I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to a power amplifier (PA) module for a transmitter.
II. Background
In a wireless communication system, a transmitter may process (e.g., encode and modulate) data to generate output samples. The transmitter may further condition (e.g., convert to analog, filter, frequency upconvert, and amplify) the output samples to generate an output radio frequency (RF) signal. The transmitter may then transmit the output RF signal via a wireless channel to a receiver. The receiver may receive the transmitted RF signal and perform the complementary processing on the received RF signal. The receiver may condition (e.g., amplify, frequency downconvert, filter, and digitize) the received RF signal to obtain input samples. The receiver may further process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the input samples to recover the transmitted data.
The transmitter may support multiple modes and multiple frequency bands. Each mode may correspond to a different radio technology, and each frequency band may cover a different range of frequencies. The transmitter may include a number of power amplifiers to support the multiple modes and the multiple bands. For example, each power amplifier may support a specific mode on a specific band. A relatively large number of power amplifiers may then be required for the transmitter, which may increase size and cost of the transmitter.